1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic payment system for a multifunctional prepaid card that can be commonly used in payment for both purchasing various goods and using various services, and a method of selling the multifunctional prepaid card.
2. Background Art
In recent years, according to an explosive growth in users of the Internet owing to the simplicity of Hyper-Text Mark-up Language (HTML) based World Wide Web (WWW) and the development of multimedia technology, there have been developed numerous applications to offer a variety of services in Cyberspace. In particular, since various kinds of cyber shopping malls emerged over the Internet, much attention has been paid to electronic commerce systems and electronic payment methods and systems essentially accompanied by the electronic commerce are being intensively studied.
Digital cash and credit cards are payment means that are most widely used in the virtual space. Also, prepaid cards have been in widespread payment means exclusively used in connection with calling service, rather than the Internet service.
Although the digital cash is electronic money exclusively used for the Internet, that is, capable of being used over the Internet instead of cash, it is quite a complicated procedure to use the digital cash. In the case of using credit cards as payment means, transaction statements or private personal information may be divulged or may be fraudulently used by hacking. Also, since the teenagers who are target users of the Internet cannot hold credit cards and credit card number, and authorization for payment are chargeable, credit cards are not suitable for payment of a small amount. Further, conventional prepaid cards can only be used in limited services, such as calling services.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic payment system for a multifunctional prepaid card which can be used as an integrated payment means for small-amount payment in chargeable sites or shopping malls over the Internet, chargeable contents for PC communications, or prepaid voicemail service, as well as general functions as prepaid cards used for payment of local/long-distance/mobile/international calling services, based on a single Personal Identification Number (PIN), and a method for selling the multifunctional prepaid card.
To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is provided an electronic payment system including a multifunctional prepaid card having a predetermined Personal Identification Number (PIN), shopping/service providing means for providing services and goods to a user of the multifunctional prepaid card and requesting the PIN of the multifunctional prepaid card for payment, and a prepaid card management system for managing state/balance information for PIN for the multifunctional prepaid card on a database, making a settlement by referring to the balance amount of the corresponding PIN if payment for a specific PIN is requested by the shopping/service providing means, and updating the settlement result on the database, wherein a single prepaid card can be comprehensively used in payment for use of various services and purchase of goods.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of selling a multifunctional prepaid card including the steps of accessing a cyber card site over the Internet and selecting a card selling site, inputting predetermined order information and a payment method for payment for purchase of the multifunctional prepaid card, making a payment by the selected method and allocating a PIN, if a xe2x80x98For giftxe2x80x99 option is selected, transferring the purchased prepaid card to a party designated by the user, and if an xe2x80x98For userxe2x80x99 option is selected, entering a password and activating the corresponding PIN.